Nineteen Years Later
by thebookworm2424
Summary: This is what happens  in my imagination  to Albus when he first sets out to Hogwarts. This is my very first Fanfic. Please, please, PLEASE read and review! PLEASE! ;
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: I OWN NOTHING! ALL RIGHTS GO TO J.K. ROWLING!

Chapter One

Albus Severus Potter peered at his alarm clock. It was two in the morning, and he still hadn't gotten any sleep. He hadn't really expected to, yet he had vainly hoped he would. He knew the train ride would be long, and he knew he wouldn't want to sleep then either.

Oh, well.

Many hours later, his mum came in. "Albus," she called, throwing the curtains open and shedding light on his unusually clean room. He'd cleaned it only yesterday when he'd been packing for Hogwarts. It felt bare and lonely to him now. "We're going to be late for the train! The Hogwarts express doesn't wait for anyone." Her eyes glazed over, as though remembering something. "You're father and your uncle Ron missed the train once, because of a house elf. They had to fly Grandpa Weasly's old Ford Anglia. They were in so much trouble with the Potions master…they were almost expelled."

"Dad and Uncle Ron went to Hogwarts in a flying car?" He smiled. "Can I?"

"Absolutely not!" Ginny smiled wearily. "Get dressed. I have to go wake up James and Lily."

He sprang from his bed, dressing quickly into his new Hogwarts robes. They felt soft and strangely open. He was used to dressing in Muggle clothes, so the absence of pants encasing his legs was peculiar. He seized his trunk and his owl's cage and bounded down the stairs.

Harry was already in the kitchen. "Morning, Albus," he greeted him.

"Good morning, Dad." Albus sat down and poured himself a bowl of cereal. It was gone in minutes. He was too agitated to sit still, so he bounced in his chair instead.

Harry eyed him over his edition of the _Daily Prophet_. "Calm down, Albus. It'll be fine. I remember my first train ride to Hogwarts. I'd just met your Uncle Ron. We sat together. Neville Longbottom kept losing his toad, and Hermione was trying to help him find it. I remember thinking she was an annoying little know-it-all back then." He smiled, lost in the memory. Both my parents seemed very lost in memory today. "You'll do fine. At least you'll be able to sit with Rose. I knew no one. I didn't even know about wizards until my eleventh birthday!"

"Really?" Albus said, surprised. His dad never really revealed much about his past. He always told his children he would someday, when they were older. He also said that he was sorry to have to say this, and that and that the old headmaster had done that to him many, many times in his own years at Hogwarts.

Ginny rushed down the stairs, a grumpy Lily trailing behind her. Lily's arms were crossed over her chest in an angry gesture. She was still sulking about how she wanted to go to Hogwarts and how it wasn't fair that both of her older brothers got to go but she couldn't…

James followed after Lily. He too was dressed. He walked down the stairs with his usual swagger. Harry often said that James acted exactly like the first James Potter had at that age. James was dragging his trunk behind him, stuffed to bursting. He held his wand in his hand. His expression was somewhat dismal.

"What's wrong, James?" Harry asked, concerned.

"I'm just sad summer is over, that's all," he said gloomily.

Harry actually laughed out loud. "Really? I don't think I was ever sad summer was over. My aunt and uncle and cousin, the Dursleys, were truly horrible. I was always ready to leave for school."

_They never talk about their school days_, Albus thought. They must really be upset.

Lily ate slowly, deliberately, just pushing the soggy flakes around in the milk. She did this every year, and this year she seemed particularly melancholy. She was sad that yet another one of her brothers was going off to Hogwarts, and that she'd be all alone in the house with Harry and Ginny.

"Is everyone ready?" Ginny asked anxiously.

"Yes, Mum," James said.

"Let's get going, then," Harry agreed. "I'll load the bags."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

An hour later they were on the train. Rose was buzzing with excitement; Albus was shaking with nervous apprehension.

"Can't you just hardly wait?" she exclaimed.

The pair jumped as the door to their car opened and a slight boy with white-blond hair stepped in. "Well, well, well, Weasley and Potter."

"Go away, Malfoy," Rose said as menacingly as she could manage.

Scorpius Malfoy just sneered. "I guess this is the carriage for losers. My granddad told me to watch out for you lot. He told me to hex you if I got close enough."

Albus and Rose both reached for their wands at the same moment.

"Expelliarmus!" they shouted in unison. The combined force of the spell threw Scorpius off his feet and sent his want spinning towards Albus, who caught it deftly.

Scorpius got up, breathing hard and looking shocked. He opened his mouth, possibly to ask for his wand back, then thought better of it and walked away.

"My dad taught me that one," said Rose, "just for him. Mum didn't approve."

"My dad taught me a few too." Albus thought back to the summer months his father had tried to spend with him. He wasn't home much, but when he had been, he'd tried hard to spend every moment with his family. He'd taught Albus some spells to ward off any unpleasant attackers he might encounter at Hogwarts.

"There's going to be people at Hogwarts who won't like you," Harry had told his son. "It's nothing personal, but there will probably be children who have relatives in Azkaban because of me, particularly in the Slytherin house, and they won't take kindly to the son of the Head of the Auror department. Just watch out, but don't attack anybody. Disarming is the most you should do, and as a first year, you probably shouldn't even be doing that."

Harry had then taught Albus a few simple spells, the most complex being Expelliarmus. Technically, this was a breach of the Reasonable Restriction for Underage Magic, but his father had shrugged it off, saying that spells couldn't be linked directly to their caster. Albus's spell would just be put down to one of his parents'.

Apparently, Uncle Ron had had the same idea.

"You know, there's something odd about your dad," said Rose. "What was all that about back at King's Cross? And what about that scar he has on his forehead, the one in the shape of a lightning bolt? Does he ever talk about his past?"

"No," he said. "I think he did something really important when he was a baby, then again when he was seventeen. I overhear him and Mum talking about it sometimes. But I don't know how he got that scar. He says he'll tell us about it 'when we're older.'"

"My parents say that too."

"They were all best friends when they were in school, my dad and your parents. I think they've been through a lot together. My dad said the first time he met them was on this train nineteen years ago. He said he used to think Aunt Hermione was an annoying know-it-all."

"Excuse me?" Rose looked offended. "People say I'm just like she was when she was younger."

"Hey, Uncle Ron thought the same think at first," Albus said hastily. "Then they got to know her."

Rose looked like she had more to say on the subject, but Albus interrupted her. "I think the train is slowing."

Rose sat still for a moment. Sure enough, she could feel their speed rapidly declining. Her stomach lurched.

They had arrived at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Firs' years! Firs' years, this way!"

The lumbering form of Hagrid was clearly visible above the mass of short heads (well, short compared to Hagrid). Rose and Albus slowly waded through the crowd towards him. The gamekeeper smiles when he say them, breaking into an enormous grin and waving a trash-bin-sized hand. They waved back.

James and his friends boarded the carriages that appeared to pull themselves but, Albus knew, were pulled by Thestrals, the vicious-looking yet harmless skeletal horses. Fred Weasley piled in after them. Fred looked exactly like him namesake and acted just like him as well. That was probably the reason he and James got along so well; the two cousins could often be seen pulling pranks around the school, trying to fill the shoes of the famous Weasley twins. The only difference between this Fred and the one who came before him was that this Fred's robes were new instead of secondhand. The Weasly's Wizard Wheezes was still doing booming business even now, twenty years after its opening.

Rose and Albus loaded onto a boat. They watched as Scorpius shoved his way to the front and boarded a boat with a massive boy and a fierce looking girl.

Hagrid urged the boats onward, and Albus remembered the tea his father had set up with him on Friday. Albus smiled at that, but his smile waned when he thought of his father, and what Rose had said. What had Harry and Ginny and Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione kept from him his whole life? What had they kept from their children? Albus felt sure that any of the new students around him could tell him more about Harry Potter than even his own son could. Maybe tea with Hagrid would clear some things up.

The boats lurched as they landed on a rocky harbor. There was a man waiting for them, wearing sweeping red robes. He was already grinning ear-to-ear, but when he saw Albus and Rose that grin widened impossibly. The children waved friendlily at Neville Longbottom, the Herbology teacher and head of the Gryffindor house.

The next few minutes were a blur. Before Albus knew it, he was being swept into the Great Hall. He was near the back, thanks to his surname, which did nothing to settle his nerves. He watched most of the students get sorted, including Scorpius Malfoy. There was quite a bit of muttering when it was his turn. In its own way, the Malfoy name carried as much of a legacy as Potter. The only difference was that the Malfoy legacy was a bit less pleasant.

Scorpius was sorted, predictably, into Slytherin. Scorpius looked happy about this decision, as did all the Slytherins. They cheered and banged their fists on the table.

Finally, Professor Longbottom called out, "Potter, Albus!"

The room began to whisper excitedly.

"Potter?"

"That's Harry Potter's son!"

"That's James's brother!"

James looked half insulted at that comment. He watched his younger brother walk nervously up to the stool and jam the hat on his head. Despite all the jibes he'd made at Albus about being in Slytherin, James hoped dearly that his brother would join him in Gryffindor.

Albus was shaking. After placing the hat on his head, he couldn't see; he'd always been small, and the hat had been made for a full grown man, Godrick Gryffindor. Then the hat began to talk to him.

"Yes, hm, Harry Potter's son. There's potential in this one. Brains, cunning, kind and loyal, and also brave and courageous; you've got all the talents that make each house special. You could easily be in any house. What about Slytherin, young Potter? You'd do well there, that's' for sure."

Albus panicked. Not Slytherin! Please! Any house but Slytherin!

"No? Your father said the same thing. Well, like father like son. I see that you truly wish to be in GRYFFINDOR!"

The Hall erupted in applause. The Gryffindors were yelling themselves hoarse, the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws clapping politely, the Slytherins booing and hissing. Albus walked over to the Gryffindors and squeezed in with his older cousin Fred. Fred clapped him on the back. "Well done, Albus. Well done."

Rose was soon up. The hat cried, "GRYFFINDOR!" Rose was delighted. Soon the sorting was over, and the headmistress stepped up to the podium. The Hall quieted instantly.

"Welcome, students," Minerva McGonagall called, "to another year at Hogwarts. I know you're all probably hungry, so let's eat!" She clapped her hands, and the food materialized on the table. As Albus dug in, he studied the headmistress. She was enormously old, that much was obvious. Her face was extremely wrinkled, though it still held kindness. Harry had told Albus about her. It surprised Albus that she was still alive; if she had been old in Harry's day, when she'd taught Transfiguration and had been the head of the Gryffindor, the headmistress was simply ancient now.

Once they had eaten all they could possible eat and been given the regular beginning-of-the-year announcements (keep out of the Forbidden Forest, no magic in the halls, Quidditch trials, and the like), the Gryffindor prefects led them to their common room. That was where he and Rose parted ways, since she had to go into the girls' dormitory and Albus had to go to the boys'. Lorcan and Lysander were already up there unpacking their things. Albus knew the twin sons of Luna and Rolf Scamander from all the holidays they'd spent with the Scamander family and liked them very much. They resembled their mother, with their blond hair and clear blue eyes. The two twins could not be more dissimilar in personality, though. Lorcan seemed to take after the Lovegood side of the family, always staring off into space and talking about strange creatures that only lived in Ireland. Lysander took after his father, and was intelligent and thoughtful.

Albus was too tired to unpack. He just collapsed into his bed and let his body give in to the weariness.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"How do you think he's doing?"

Harry sat in a chair by the fireplace, expressing his concerns about Albus to Ginny. Lily had already gone to bed, and Ginny was reading a book, cuddled up a chair by the fire with Harry.

"I'm sure he's doing fine. He is a Potter, after all."

"That's what I'm worried about. Potter is not a name all wizarding families are fond of. Especially the Malfoys."

"Little Scorpius wouldn't try anything, would he?" Ginny said thoughtfully.

"If I know Lucius, he will. He probably told him to duel any Weasleys or Potters he comes across and ask questions later."

"He'll be fine. You did teach him all those spells."

Harry sighed, acknowledging the truth in her words. "Ginny, do you think we should have told the kids? Do you think we should have told them about…everything?"

"No," Ginny replied firmly. "Harry, we've been through this. They're not ready. They would have nightmares, especially Lily."

There was a creak from the hallway. Harry leaped from his chair, wand in hand. He sprang for the doorway.

Ginny looked on curiously. Harry reappeared with Lily tucked under his arm. Lily looked ashamed at being caught.

Harry sighed. "I think I'm turning into Mad-Eye."

Ginny folded her arms over her chest, resting the book on her lap. "Lily," she said sternly. "I thought you were asleep."

Lily pouted. "Why don't you and dad ever tell us anything?"

"Lily, you are _too young_. Now, go back to bed."

Lily frowned and marched back up the stairs, stomping her foot on every step.

Despite himself, Harry had to smile. "She's exactly like you were. Remember when we were at Grimmald Place with Sirius, and I wanted information about the order, and your mom made you go back up to your room? That was exactly what you did; you stormed all the way up the stairs."

Ginny smiled at the memory. "Yeah. Then Hermione came and told me everything anyway. Harry, you know we can't tell them. I thought we agreed: we'll tell them when they're of age."

"But what about school?" Harry persisted. "There's bound to be kids there who know what happened. Scorpius Malfoy, for example. Do you remember feeling like Malfoy knew more than we did? How he gloated?"

"Yes," Ginny said, "but still…"

"We've got to tell them."

Ginny sighed. She knew that when her husband set his mind to something, he didn't let it go. It was one of the qualities he'd needed to defeat Voldemort. If he hadn't stuck with Dumbledore's plan, if he'd been scared of dying, they would_ all_ be dead right now. Voldemort would have taken over, and everything would have been for nothing. Ginny knew that the matter of telling their kids about their childhood would be nothing to Harry compared to defeating the Dark Lord.

"I just don't know Harry…what about Lily? She would have nightmares, just like you used to."

Harry seemed to hesitate at this. "We won't tell Lily," he decided. "But we'll tell the boys, so that that way they won't be caught by surprise at Hogwarts. We'll tell them when they come home for Christmas."

Ginny relented. "Fine. Christmastime."


End file.
